Revised
after excellent
conversations with Bob Pratt

jc 10/21/2008 Note: To the unethical, dishonest person who might take any one statement that I have written on this page out of context (without even reading the rest) in the attempt to make the bogus claim that every UFO article that has ever appeared in the National Enquirer has been totally contrived and not a real event:

This page is NOT a general endorsement of the myriad articles that have appeared in the National Enquirer concerning UFOs, nor Enquirer summations concerning same, before or after the short period described on this page.

To
properly understand the significance of this website, one must read Dr. J. Allen
Hynek's book, "The UFO Experience." Dr. Hynek is the main, central stabilizing
figure in this UFO "controversy/mystery" and the one person who, by virtue of
being in the right place at the right time, had probably the deepest insight into
this enigmatic topic. Click here for biographical
info. His scholarly writings and discussion concerning the subject were "competent," cautious and basically conservative. He is also the specific reason
why I deemed certain articles from the "National Enquirer" accurate and certified
for analysis. (No, I am not usually an Enquirer reader or fan!) The cases I gravitated
towards were pre-screened by NICAP, APRO, MUFON. At the moment I do not know if
Hynek personally screened any for submission. Back then, NICAP was the largest
and most conservative of all the UFO groups. (Click
here for NICAP history)

Dr. Hynek's book, "The
UFO Experience" explained how and why Hynek became involved with the study of
"UFOs" and why after many years as a "debunker" of UFO reports for the Air Force,
he began to realize that there were a number of cases that truly defied any rational
explanations he could devise. His history making treatise was written after the
later discredited "Condon Study" had pronounced its negative conclusions concerning
whether anything useful could be learned from studying UFO reports. Although the
Condon Study's data did not support its negative conclusions and many scientists
and engineers eventually disagreed with its findings, the Air Force was given
a political "lever" to allow it to close Project
Bluebook, its own "study" of UFOs. This effectively disengaged Dr. Hynek
from his primary data source concerning the topic.

At this point, Dr. Hynek
still had his reputable job as Chief Astronomer for Northwestern University (and
pursued other scientific projects), but he now felt an obligation to present the
anomalous data he had found to both other scientists and the general public in
some way. At the same time, he had a fervent desire, highly stimulated by that
data, to see the subject studied in greater depth and in an honest scientific
manner. This led to both his publishing of "The UFO Experience" and the eventual
founding of CUFOS (Center for UFO Studies) in
1973.

Hynek's Relationship with the National Enquirer

Beginning
in early 1974, UFO articles published in the National Enquirer were submitted
by NICAP, APRO and MUFON. The three groups prescreened UFO cases submitted
to the paper. Reporters were sent out to confirm a number of the cases. Dr. Hynek
was part of that panel.

In June
of 2002, I discovered an incredible web site created by Bob Pratt, a man who I
remembered had written many of those UFO articles for the National Enquirer in
the 1970's. So, I decided to write and ask him what he remembered concerning the
days when several UFO groups and Dr. Hynek had come to them several years after
the Air Force's Project Blue Book had closed. His remembrances caused me to revise
some of what I had originally written concerning Hynek's role with the Enquirer.
Our conversations did, however, solidify my contention that Hynek was extremely
serious about obtaining funding for the further study of UFOs and getting what
information he had gathered during his tenure at "Blue Book" out to
the public.

The last paragraph in the preceding 2/74
NICAP journal concerning a historic meeting between NICAP, APRO, and "decision
makers" of the National Enquirer confirms that both groups were expecting
the Enquirer to help complete the investigation of various cases if their funding
was running low. Evidentially, Hynek was hoping to obtain funds for serious research.

"The
meeting attended by decision makers of the National Enquirer, APRO and NICAP accomplished
more than the stated purpose of evaluating reports. It is well known that data
gathering and analysis can be an expensive task. In some cases the cost of analysis
is beyond the scope of the APRO or NICAP budget allocations. Cases which are submitted
for the Enquirer's UFO panel evaluation will now receive funding from the National
Enquirer to insure complete analysis. Of equal importance is the resolve by both
Mr. Lorenzen and Mr. Acuff to continue to seek means for mutual cooperation between
NICAP and APRO."

Getting
back to Bob Pratt:
Bob began researching UFO cases
for the Enquirer in May of 1975. From some emails we exchanged I discovered that
a third UFO group, MUFON, (which is probably the largest group today) was involved as well. Bob says that during the course
of his research and cooperation with the three groups, sharing information, etc.,
he developed a friendship with Dr. Hynek and informs us that Hynek eventually
left the Enquirer panel in 1976 or '77 because he realized the publisher of the
Enquirer was not serious about providing funds for this endeavor.

Dr. Hynek's book was a major
step towards his goal of notifying both his colleagues and the public of what
he had found during his tenure at "Blue Book." In it, he described what kinds
of people make UFO reports, the puzzling reports, people's reactions to both the
reports and the people that report them, delineated various genre to enable discussion
of each type (nocturnal lights, daylight discs, radar-visual, radar, close encounters of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd kind, etc.) He also
showed that "science" is not always what scientists do (politics, etc. get in
the way) and then step by step refuted the Condon Study's conclusions, giving
solid support for each item mentioned, including a letter of resignation from
Mary Louise Armstrong, administrative assistant to Edward Condon. This
letter gave authenticated witness to the problems in the project and supported
the discovery of Saunders and Levine, two project members, that the heads of the
project never intended to do an "honest" study of the subject because they thought
it might be political suicide. (i.e. The head administrators were afraid that
their reputations might have been ruined had they approached the topic seriously.)
Saunders and Levine had discovered this in a letter written to University officials
by Robert Low, the project's coordinator.

Also of fascinating
interest in Hynek's book, was his own letter
of criticism to Colonel Raymond Sleeper regarding the lack of scientific
methodology utilized in "Project Blue Book." Upon reading his letter, the average
person should realize that the main Air Force project, to study UFOs during a
20 year period, was likewise a "non-study." Blue Book's only official civilian
scientist who had legitimately attempted to study the phenomenon had come to the
startling conclusion that "something very strange, and so far unexplained, does
exist." Furthermore, other than the poorly run Colorado Study, no other scientist(s)
he knew of had been funded to study the subject adequately in a serious manner.

Liner
notes from "The UFO Experience" state:

"...Dr. Hynek, currently the Director of the Lindheimer Astronomical Research Center at Northwestern University and Chairman of Northwestern's Astronomy Department, has served as Associate Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., as well as heading its NASA-sponsored satellite tracking program. With such credentials and experience Professor Hynek does not lightly challenge the official UFO line. But to him the evidence is irrefutable. The UFO thesis has not been disproved."

His
relationship with the Enquirer, a "Necessity of the Times"

With these things firmly in mind, Dr. Hynek's death has not altered the historical
"facts" he presented to both the public and his colleagues. Knowledge of these
facts is still vital to a full understanding regarding UFOs. Thus, reading his
book is still integral to the acquisition of same. It will also help one understand
his "relationship" with the National Enquirer as being a "necessity of the times;"
a relationship under ordinary circumstances he probably would never have undertaken
due to its virtually certain negative impact on his reputation. But Hynek needed
a place from which to publish and was also in the process of seeking out funding
for his research. Although all accumulated data to that point indicated it was
sorely warranted, proper research could never be funded or the results published
through normal scientific channels, since the negative conclusions of the Condon
Study precipitated both the closing of Blue Book and the closing of many a scientific
mind in regards to UFOs. Yet, he felt the important data in his possession was
worth the risk and was certain that there were other "high strangeness"
cases sitting out there that had never been reported to the Air Force due both to
its flippant handling of UFO witnesses and its anti-UFO stance. Therefore, publishing
cases in the Enquirer and attempting to draw out other "high strangeness"
cases not reported to the Air Force, and those which might lend themselves to further
study, became the agreed upon order of the day for all concerned. The uniting
of Blue Book's only major scientist/consultant with leaders from the three major
UFO groups demonstrated solidarity as well as a determination to keep the study
of UFOs moving in as positive a direction as could be expected at that moment
in time.